Hello, I am applying for a health sci transfer from life sci this year.
I have completed my supplementary application and is currently stuck at the reference:
(Name one person who could tell us more about your academic work.)
Does this have to be a TA or a prof?
To be honest, I have not had a chance to closely interact with the profs and I highly doubt my TAs from the few courses know me well enough to do this for me.
I do volunteer at the moment but my position does not involve heavy interaction with the coordinator either. Also, volunteering is EC rather than academic.
What could you suggest?

Originally Posted by dj27734

Hello, I am applying for a health sci transfer from life sci this year.
I have completed my supplementary application and is currently stuck at the reference:
(Name one person who could tell us more about your academic work.)
Does this have to be a TA or a prof?
To be honest, I have not had a chance to closely interact with the profs and I highly doubt my TAs from the few courses know me well enough to do this for me.
I do volunteer at the moment but my position does not involve heavy interaction with the coordinator either. Also, volunteering is EC rather than academic.
What could you suggest?

A prof is definitely better than a TA, and yes, the volunteering is not considered academic, however an exception would be if you volunteered for a professor in some capacity.
If you absolutely have no one else, ask one of your TAs, but it won't be a very strong reference letter if they don't know you that well, nor will it look as good as a letter from a prof. At the end of the day, if you haven't built a relationship with someone by now, you probably won't by the time the application is due, so look at who you have and just pick the best possible person.

Originally Posted by dj27734

Hello, I am applying for a health sci transfer from life sci this year.
I have completed my supplementary application and is currently stuck at the reference:
(Name one person who could tell us more about your academic work.)
Does this have to be a TA or a prof?
To be honest, I have not had a chance to closely interact with the profs and I highly doubt my TAs from the few courses know me well enough to do this for me.
I do volunteer at the moment but my position does not involve heavy interaction with the coordinator either. Also, volunteering is EC rather than academic.
What could you suggest?

High school teachers are also an option.

I used my high school chem teacher. Tbh I didn't even ask him, I just wrote it down.

Thanks guys,
The application is due very soon and I don't think I will be able to make a visit back to high school to pick up some contacts.
I know that the reference is only a small portion of the application and I even heard that the department doesn't really have time to call all the contacts.
I think I will check with the academic adviser on Monday and see my options.
I really appreciate your help guys.
Thank you.

On the application, it says:
Name one person who could tell us more about your academic work:
* NOTE: Do not name a family member. Do not send references.

I asked my chemistry professor. I would have been happy to have my chemistry TA as well refer me. There is not letter involved. Just put someone down and let them know. Lol, just incase they are like wtf when they get a call.

thanks kanye,
Are you close with your chemistry professor?
I would feel sort of bad because I am not close and I am asking last second.

Fairly close, but we weren't best buds. But if my chem prof got a call, she would at least be like yes, I know kanye west, and yes I know he did well in my class.

On a semi related note, does anyone know how many people apply for a transfer?

Originally Posted by philkolb31

On a semi related note, does anyone know how many people apply for a transfer?

I've heard there were ~600 applicants two years ago (including those who eventually didn't meet the cutoff). I haven't heard anything about how many applied last year.

600 applicants...
There is no way all 600 students from first year knew the professors well enough to get a reference.
Could there be an alternative?

yes. put down anyone you know that is not related by blood to you that knows who you are. i really don't think there is the time or resources to check in on any of the references anyways; it is just there in case there is some outrageous claim or whatnot that somebody makes. if it doesn't sound like you're lying, you'll be fine. if you do any volunteering, show your supervisor your transcript for 10 seconds and then they know about your academic work? i mean, it's kinda dumb considering they can see your marks when you're applying anyways. you should be put your efforts into writing a kickass answer to whatever the supplementary questions are and not worry so much about this.

Great, thank you